Do It Now!

[imoldernu]

On the fence for one more year?
Making it now, while you can, so you have the $'s to complete your bucket list?
Worried about having to live in a cave (or with your kids) later on?
Have some goal that you're committed to, so you'll feel comfortable in retirement?

Just a few words from one who's been there, and thought all of those things, and more. Actually three words...

Do It Now!

You don't get a second chance.

It's hard to discuss health problems with younger people who see themselves tomorrow, as they are today, because they are exercising, eating the right things, and doing what they're supposed to do to stay healthy. (Younger, being younger than me... whether age 40 or age 70).

Your dreams carry you to that wonderful world of no worries. Where you can do as you please... and no one to tell you "no". And yes... the mother or father or grandma that is 93 and is still driving and going on cruises. That's you.

It's not my place to give advice... but... here's some advice. "Do It Now".

Not "crazy" do it now, like trying to retire at age 50, on $35K/yr... but realistic... based on carrying an element of risk in return for more happy years.

DW and I have had 26 years of total happiness after taking the chance. Living in retirement communities for most of those years, we have seen lives and dreams cut short at age 55 and more commonly at ages 65 to 75.

So we missed the African Safari, the Alps, the Danube Cruise, and my dream trip back to Nikko... but a lucky trade off. Still here... a little shopworn, and not ready for the triathalon... but here, and happy, with no regrets.

"But I'm healthy" ... "My genes are good"... "I want to be safe!" ... "I don't want to be a burden". Yeah... 'til something happens, and you have the money, but missed those years of freedom.

Need some more convincing? Read ALL of this "after 65 health problems" before you sign on for OMY, just because of the money.

FastStats - Older Persons Health

Do It Now!

 

[LinCella]

I agree! My mom died almost two years ago at 95 and I decided after that to retire at 54.5 because life is precious and I wanted to spend it having more experiences than just working. I've had diabetes for 20 years and since I've retired it is now the best it has ever been because I take the time to do all I need to do.

Do It Now! Seconded!

 

[brewer12345]

Heh, screw the African safari! At 9X through a scope a squirrel looks like a lion.

 

[stepford]

Excellent pep talk for those of us doing the damn fool OMY. I turn 55 next month and already think I may have waited a bit too long. Sticking it out till 56 would be a really dumb move, but the siren song of security still calls. Your post is like a lighthouse warning of those shoals.

 

[NW-Bound]

Yes, people think terminal illness is something that happens to the other people. Quite a few posters here have had serious health problem, yours truly included. I am OK now, else would not be posting. Several posters have been absent since they talked of their health problem. It's sad.

But, but, but optimism and hope are something that people need to live on. How to balance that with realism, I dunno.

Heh, screw the African safari! At 9X through a scope a squirrel looks like a lion.

Particularly evil squirrels like this one.

 

[brewer12345]

I sure would not try to pick up a live one...

 

[packrat44]

I believe NW-Bound has been on my property again taking pictures of my squirrels. They are my guard squirrels. Very vicious. Keep of my grass!

 

[JTOrt]

Very inspirational imoldr, we have 1.8 investible and are currently on an explority camping trip to find our retirement home. Only problem is both of our corporations wont let us ease into retirement via pt work, only more responsibility. So we need to make an executive decision and pull the plug. We get the concept but are still nervous about losing 8000k (after savings) deposited in the checking account every 2 weeks. That has solved any issues we have had. Will have to end sometime. Greed vs need.....

 

[donheff]

+10 Well said.

 

[H2ODude]

Excellent post, Imoldernu frequently shares great wisdom. We're 64 and four years in; luckily are very healthy. However we both engage in the obituary glance each morning to remind ourselves just how things can change. MIL recently passed at 89 and her final years were not pretty and we're very aware that her path could be ours.

Reading the paper/internet and just looking around makes us realize just how lucky we are. Yes we worked for most of it, but the health card can turn nasty in the blink of an eye.

 

[ivinsfan]

Very inspirational imoldr, we have 1.8 investible and are currently on an explority camping trip to find our retirement home. Only problem is both of our corporations wont let us ease into retirement via pt work, only more responsibility. So we need to make an executive decision and pull the plug. We get the concept but are still nervous about losing 8000k (after savings) deposited in the checking account every 2 weeks. That has solved any issues we have had. Will have to end sometime. Greed vs need.....

That's a big number...

 

[Options]

+1
Always enjoy your posts imoldernu.

...

the health card can turn nasty in the blink of an eye.

Well said.

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

If you need just a little more encouragement, watch this (lol)

 

[O2Bfree]

We had a friend, Fred, who retired at 62. He and his wife moved to their lovely, custom-built home in a charming small town. Three years later Fred, who was not a smoker, got lung cancer. He lasted three months.

We're not quite ready financially to retire now, but we keep in mind the Fred Factor.

 

[NW-Bound]

We all know people who dropped from a sudden illness in their 50s or 60s. It may or may not happen to each individual, but that's the uncertainty people do not usually think of and pay little attention to, relative to the stock market risk, job loss, etc...

But how does one balance these risks? It's hard. Not making the hard decision to quit is still a decision, and OMY carries some risks too. Who knows? But the main thing is whatever our future turns out, do not regret it. Life is full of uncertainties, and we have to accept the cards we are dealt.

I believe NW-Bound has been on my property again taking pictures of my squirrels. They are my guard squirrels. Very vicious. Keep of my grass!

Vicious is what Brewer likes to see in his 22 scope.

 

[NW-Bound]

We had a friend, Fred, who retired at 62. He and his wife moved to their lovely, custom-built home in a charming small town. Three years later Fred, who was not a smoker, got lung cancer. He lasted three months...

Your friend got 3 years. That's more than many people have. I will tell just two most recent stories about people I knew indirectly, both involving a man in his early 50s.

One man, an engineer, felt pain in the abdomen one day. Diagnosis: colon cancer, and it was already Stage 4. He lasted 1 month.

The second man, a full colonel in the USAF, felt tired. He told his secretary that he needed to go home early. He never made it home, and went missing for 2 days. They later found out that he pulled off into a parking lot on the way home, and died in his car there. Cause is still unknown, awaiting an autopsy.

 

[Nemo2]

My last day of work was December 28, 1988.....I was 46 years, 3 months, and 1 day old..........I'll be 73 (if I make it) this September........lost a loved spouse along the way (to cancer)....lucky enough to find another, (the best woman I've known)....have 3 1/2 times the money I had when I stopped working.......we have two (more) trips pretty much paid for, and are hoping for many others......and we'll do it as long as we can.

Work? Ptui

 

[NW-Bound]

I am never good at remembering dates, despite my oft self-proclaimed superior memory. I vaguely remember my last day of work to the month, not to the day. I finished up a contract work I did, and had a strong feeling that I was done for my life but was not certain. I was taking a break, and that turned out to be forever. When they called me and asked when I would be coming back, I said I was done.

So, no date for me to even commemorate. I do not even keep any record to look up in order to accurately place that day, except perhaps to the week of that year.

PS. I forgot my birthday one year.

 

[Donzo]

Knowing what I know now, I should have jumped at 45 not 49. I was so wrapped up in the BS of work (hitting my regional numbers and watching my back) that I never crunched numbers or found this forum. If you found this forum and are figuring your expenses and assets you are in the home stretch.

 

[freebird5825]

I was suddenly widowed at age 46. He was age 50.5.
Life handed me a case of lemons. I'm a hell of a lemonade maker.

Here's my version of DO IT NOW!

I set a goal to FIRE when my TSP hit a certain number, which happened in January 2007 after 2+ years of vigorously maxing out my TSP above and beyond what I had previously done for 16 years. I did this on a more than halved household income. The survivor pension covered the household bills and medical insurance, but that's about it.

So, at the age of 48, on April 1, 2007, I broke every rule in the damn book.

The personnel folks were aghast ! But...but...you'll lose this and you'll lose that...and...nobody's ever done this...blah blah blah....

I resigned from a very secure GS-13 govt 0855 series j*b, instead of waiting 1 year and 10 months for an early out at age 50.
I converted my TSP into an immediate fixed annuity at 5.25%. I decided I could live off a modest survivor pension and the annuity until age 56 when I could draw my own FERS pension, without touching my retirement portfolio.
I kept pumping money into my retirement portfolio, at a rate I could manage on now an even lower income. I kept my eye on the ball.
And yes I took my pension right at age 56, incurring percentage losses because I was not yet 62.

Guess what ? I regret not a single decision.

To hell with the rules...I created my own scenario as I decided I wanted to. It's more about freedom than it is about waiting for more money or following the rules.

I live very comfortably. I have a nice emergency fund built up. No expensive 2nd homes or vacations, and I still have to budget a little for taxes and high ticket house maintenance items. My income is stable and even if one of the legs of my 3 legged stool falls off, I can still survive.

But the bottom line is I caused no more damage to my hands and upper body. I look a heck of a lot younger than my chronological years. I am in the best physical shape at age 56 than I had ever been during the w*rking years.

So, yes, find a way to DO IT NOW !!!!

 

[Derslickmeister]

My wife has CANCER. It's pretty hard to just walk away from a Cadillac health care plan when your spouse has CANCER. Sure she's in remission now, but for how long, next CT scan? Next time blood shows up in the urine? Great advice if you are healthy, not so much if you have been down the CANCER road a time or two

 

[Nemo2]

CANCER.

I learned to hate that word too......and the feeling of helplessness, knowing there's absolutely nothing you can do to affect the outcome, or for that matter...anything.......I wish you both the best of luck.

 

[old woman]

I stopped 1/15/14 when I was 65 and had enough money. Sooner wasn't important to me but now I didn't want to spend more time working.
One thing people don't think of is getting value from buying a retirement home or boat. My boyfriend got a home and boat at 66 and has been so busy playing with his house and land he hasn't had time to catch fish. The boat was expensive and he has only had it out about 10 times in a year, this week striping and staining his porch, playing with baby chickens and other household chores. I hope he has many years to enjoy that boat and house it would be a waste to only get a few uses from the boat and a few years from the house. Retire young so you can play with toys longer, Harley rides, boat rides, riding lawn mower rides, buy a steer and watch it grow, get a cat and out live it. You don't want to get all set up then not have time.

 

[athena53]

I'm sort of on the fence on this. When I see people who look to be in their 70s bagging groceries or passing out samples at the grocery store I wonder if they do it to get out and be around people or if they realized too late that they retired too early. One poor old guy was there bagging groceries only once; I remember he was really slow and we never saw him again. I remember thinking the same thing when a previous employer gave early-retirement incentives to a wave of long-time employees in their early 50s. Many said they weren't going to look for another job and would travel and visit their grandkids. Good actuary that I was, I wondered how many people would realize 20 years later that their fixed pension plus SS wasn't
enough.


I think, though, that worry about poverty in old age was a good incentive for me to save. When my own job turned sour a year ago at age 61, 4 years earlier than I'd planned to retire, I left and I haven't looked back. Our net worth is higher than it was a year ago despite no wages. DH's health issues are catching up with him (he's 77) and, although he still does 99% of the driving on road trips and we're going to Iceland in August, my dream of a post-retirement trip to Australia and NZ is gone- DH just can't take serious long-hauls anymore, even in Business Class. (We're spending 2 nights in Boston before flying to Iceland, which is only 5 hours from BOS.) I'm very glad I retired while DH still (likely) has some good years left.

 

[HFWR]

We get the concept but are still nervous about losing 8000k (after savings) deposited in the checking account every 2 weeks.

Lots of well-to-do folks on this board, but I'm not one... You make more in two weeks than I've managed to save in a lifetime...

I'm almost to my goalpost. The 401k, plus a small pension, plus early SS, plus subsidized health insurance, will provide a lifestyle equivalent to w*rking at my current salary, so no OMY here!

Sixty-one plus isn't all that early, but it was a fast as I could go!

As I get older, more and more people I know/knew have serious, sometimes fatal, maladies. On the other end of the spectrum, I w*rk around several 70+ (one 80+) who are still w*rking, even though they have more money than they can spend, because they were too bored to retire. And I too see lots of older folks working who don't appear to be thrilled with that idea, but likely have to w*rk.

Speaking of older folks, my dad, now 84, says of drivers in Florida, "These old people can't drive"...